


And They Were Lab Partners

by ineffable_grimm_pitch



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Chemistry, Fluff, High School, M/M, No beta we fall like Crowley, You're Welcome, and they were lab partners, but like, oh my god they were lab partners, so this story was born, the class - Freeform, they're chemistry partners, they're lab partners, writer has a whole ass crush on their lab partner, y'all get it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-11-23 19:28:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20894894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ineffable_grimm_pitch/pseuds/ineffable_grimm_pitch
Summary: Oh my God, they were lab partnersCrowley couldn't really give less of a shit about school.Aziraphale was an honors student with near-perfect PSAT scores.And both were in seventh period chemistry.





	And They Were Lab Partners

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Good Omens work! I'm not entirely happy with how this one turned out, but I promise more stuff is coming, both Good Omens and my regularly scheduled Supernatural content! And the quality of this fic is much lower than my typical standard, but I just wanted to get this one out!

The day that schedules were released, students had one of two reactions.

The first, memorizing the whole schedule and working out how to most effectively get between classes, and 

The second, either glancing over it once or not looking at it at all and winging it on the first day.

Crowley fell in the second category. He wasn’t a bad student; he just never really cared for school. He felt he had better things to do with his time than sit in a classroom full of depressed, sleep-deprived teens and pretend to learn world history. 

He knew kids who were of the first category, kids who cared more about school than he ever did and ever would, kids who were smart and had bright futures ahead of them. Crowley just didn’t happen to be one of those kids.

Crowley sauntered into school on the first day, going through the motions, walking from class to class and trying not to get caught sleeping. Finally, at the end of the day, he walked into his last period.

Chemistry.

He’d hoped the first day would be slow, that teachers would just introduce themselves and the course, but Mr. Mish had other ideas. He’d decided that they would jump in on the first day with a simple lab about hydrophilic and hydrophobic substances. And with a lab, there had to be lab partners. 

Crowley only knew a handful of people in his chemistry class. He desperately hoped that he didn’t get paired with someone he either didn’t know or couldn’t stand. So Crowley, slouched unceremoniously in his ancient desk, listened for his name and his partner.

“Table 5, Anthony Crowley and Az--I’m not even gonna try this one.”

A small voice piped up, coming from a few seats to Crowley’s left. “It’s just Z.”

Mr. Mish nodded and continued, “Anthony Crowley and Z Fell.”

Crowley glanced over to where the voice had come from and noticed Z. He’d seen him around, he knew who he was. Smart kid, he’d heard. That’s fine. Crowley could live with Z.

Crowley walked to their lab table. The materials were already set out, and Z was already setting up the beginning of the experiment. Attempting to make some sort of connection with the kid he would be spending most of his seventh periods with, he asked, “So what does Z stand for?” 

Z glanced up at Crowley briefly before casting his eyes back down at the experiment. “My name is Aziraphale, but it’s a bit of a mouthful, so most people just call me Z.”

Crowley smirked at him. “Aziraphale Fell. Man, what were your parents on?” Crowley teased, trying to gauge Z’s reaction.

“Better if you don’t ask,” Aziraphale muttered, starting the experiment and effectively not letting Crowley do any of the work. “You’re Anthony, if I’m not mistaken?”

Crowley hummed affirmatively. “I’m AJ, but you can call me Crowley, if you like.”

Aziraphale smiled, something obviously coming to his mind. His eyes were intently focused on the experiment and not meeting Crowley’s. “What does the ‘J’ stand for?”

Crowley stuttered. “Nkg.” His brain short circuited. “It’s just a J, really,” he finally managed.

An amused smile spread across Aziraphale’s face at the sound of Crowley’s struggling. He still didn’t let their eyes meet. “I think I’ll stick with Crowley, then.”

Both fell into a comfortable silence as Crowley watched Aziraphale work, offering help when Aziraphale asked but staying out of the way otherwise. He got distracted by the way his hands would move, measuring and recording methodically. Once, when Aziraphale read a particularly imprecise measurement, he put his pen to his lips, trying to figure out where he went wrong. Crowley stared at those lips, full and relaxed, but focused, as Aziraphale whispered, “Well, that can’t be right.” Aziraphale looked expectantly at Crowley, silently asking for help. Crowley glanced over Aziraphale’s work, finding nothing wrong with it besides the answer. 

“It looks right to me. I don’t know what happened,” Crowley muttered. Not that he would have seen the mistake if he’d actually been paying attention, but he felt the need to reassure Aziraphale that he couldn’t have done any better. And anyway, he caught his mistake after a few more seconds looking over his work. Crowley couldn’t tell what he did differently.

They closed up the lab together, cleaning their tray table and writing the last few explanations on their paper. Crowley was once again distracted by the way Aziraphale worked, manicured hands moving elegantly across the table and across the paper. 

Aziraphale had hardly spoken to Crowley throughout the course of the lab. It wasn’t him being standoffish, Crowley knew he wasn’t like that, but he was...shy? Nervous? Crowley didn’t know the right word to use to describe the quiet gentleness of his lab partner. He watched Aziraphale scurry out of the classroom seconds after the bell rang.

A week later, they had another lab. Crowley walked over to his table where his partner was already sitting, waiting for him. Crowley smiled pleasantly.

“Hey, Aziraphale,” Crowley said casually.

Aziraphale looked up at Crowley, but didn’t immediately glance down this time, but stared as if he had been caught off guard. Crowley’s expression turned confused.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, worried he’d done something to upset him.

“You called me Aziraphale,” Aziraphale whispered. Not an accusation, just a statement.

Crowley slid onto one of the stools. “Yeah, why? Should I not?”

Aziraphale rushed to answer, tripping over his words. “No, no. It’s not that. You’re absolutely fine. It’s just...no one actually calls me by my name.”

Crowley smirked. "It's a good name. I hope you don't mind me using it."

Aziraphale smiled softly, looking touched. "Not at all."

They, once again, worked in comfortable silence. Graceful hands moved across the cold tabletop, measuring, mixing, cleaning, recording. Aziraphale took the lead and Crowley watched, finding himself focused more on his lab partner than the actual experiment. He was able to offer a bit of help when he was asked, but Aziraphale clearly wanted the control, and Crowley was more than happy to allow him to take it. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about the class, although calling Crowley a chemistry enthusiast would definitely be a stretch. But Crowley found himself immediately fond of the way Aziraphale’s face would harden in concentration.

Crowley didn’t even notice when Aziraphale started cleaning up until he was already done. Despite himself, Crowley felt a bit guilty. Clean-up was the part he could actually do, and he was more than happy to. Only, he’d been distracted this time around and wasn’t entirely sure how much help he would have been able to offer even if he tried. 

On the way out the door, Aziraphale smiled brightly at Crowley and bid him farewell. He even addressed him by name.

Crowley went home and sat on his floor. He was rather fond of Aziraphale. He couldn’t stop thinking about him. His hands were more distracting than any pair of hands should be, and what’s worse, it was completely innocent. He was _ adorable _ . His platinum hair looked even brighter under the harsh overhead fluorescent lights of the lab room. His eyes lit up when he succeeded. He was _ beautiful _ . He was downright _ angelic _.

Crowley just wished he could be a more competent lab partner. He would just have to do his best for Aziraphale.

Crowley awkwardly entered the lab the next day, doing his best attempt at a cool saunter which looked more like he’d injured himself than he’d wanted. He walked up to Aziraphale, deciding to quit the saunter while he could. Aziraphale explained to him that they were to finish up the last part of the lab today. Crowley nodded nonchalantly and Aziraphale turned and went to the lab table. 

Crowley didn’t even know what happened, but he’d found himself a little too inside his own head, and before he knew it, Aziraphale had started taking measurements without him. He startled and rushed to Aziraphale’s side to help where he could.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered. “I’ll be smart for you.”

Aziraphale looked up at Crowley. Crowley refused to meet his eyes until he heard a small, “Crowley?”Crowley glanced up, more shy than he wanted to be. 

“Dear boy,” Aziraphale continued, “you’re doing just fine. You don’t need to try to be smart for me. You’re smart enough as you are.”

Crowley was looking up at Aziraphale, but just barely. He smiled genuinely. “Thanks, angel.”

Wait.

He didn’t mean to say that.

“I mean-”

“I think we both know what you mean, my dear.”

Their eyes lingered, locked for a second longer than they normally would, and they realized that they both did, in fact, know exactly what Crowley meant, and that Aziraphale was more than happy to learn just how much he meant it. 

Maybe the chemistry would go beyond just seventh period.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos make for a happy writer!
> 
> Find me on tumblr: @ineffable-grimm-pitch


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